For The Future of EVs, What Policy Is “Stupid”?

From THE MANHATTAN CONTRARIAN

Francis Menton

Over the past couple of years, I have had several posts here expressing skepticism about whether electric vehicles (EVs) were really the wave of the future. Most recently, I had a post on December 17 noting the rapid decline of EV sales in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, following the expiration of certain tax credits on September 30. Overall, my take has been that the EV market has been propped up by government subsidies and benefits and, like all businesses dependent on government handouts, would likely shrink drastically (if not completely disappear) without them.

For a different take, you might wonder where The New York Times stands on this. Well, I have your answer. Yesterday, they gave over a big chunk of their editorial page to an op-ed by a guy named Bill Saporito, headlined “$25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit.” The thesis is that EVs are wondrous products, and that American EVs would be conquering the world, and earning big profits for the automakers, but for a “war” against EVs instigated by President Trump.

Bill Saporito, if you haven’t heard of him, is a business journalist who has really been around the block in mainstream publications, mostly under the umbrella of the former Time, Inc. He has been a big-time writer and/or editor at outlets like Fortune, Inc., and Time, where he has been Assistant Managing Editor and was at some point in charge of both business and sports. (Maybe he is as responsible as anyone for running the whole Time, Inc. enterprise into the ground.)

So Bill, what is your take on EVs? According to Saporito, the recent massive write-downs of investments in EVs by Ford ($19.5 billion) and GM ($6 billion) have been caused by “President Trump’s gratuitous war against electric vehicles,” which “is forcing manufacturers to return to an increasingly outdated past.” The CEOs of those companies have been trying to make all the right moves to “futureproof” their enterprises in shifting marketplaces but, says Saporito, “it is pretty difficult to futureproof your company against stupid.”

Saporito continues that EVs are an “obviously beneficial” technology, and that Trump’s war on them is motivated by some combination of vindictiveness, spite, and ignorance of the importance of “climate change.” In short, “stupid”:

Mr. Trump’s efforts to undermine an obviously beneficial technology are something that, as far as I can tell, no large American company previously encountered. . . . One big reason for Mr. Trump’s rejection of E.V.s is simple: President Joe Biden championed them as his administration pushed greener forms of transportation and energy. . . . The vindictive, oil-loving Mr. Trump, who equates green with woke and views climate change as heresy, has worked assiduously to undo it, working to cancel consumer tax incentives and billions in funds for E.V. charging and battery manufacturing projects.

Remarkably, despite the extremely harsh language directed at Trump, Saporito doesn’t mention anything that the supposed “war” consists of beyond the withdrawal of previous subsidies and tax credits. Since when is a business entitled to subsidies and tax credits? Outside social welfare fields like education and health care, nearly all businesses operate without government handouts. Is the government conducting a “war” against people who make computers, or who build houses, by not offering them subsidies and tax credits?

As the final crushing piece of evidence to prove his case that rushing to EVs is “obviously beneficial,” Saporito cites the apparent success of Chinese EV champion BYD. They are leaving us in their dust!

[GM’s foreign competitors] remain fully committed to E.V.s. That’s especially true of China, where BYD has become the world’s largest E.V. maker, overtaking Tesla. BYD started as a battery maker and now exports its low-priced E.V.s to more than 70 countries. Eventually, the United States will be one of them. Our ability to compete with BYD and other Chinese competitors is being undermined.

I wonder if Saporito is keeping up with the latest on BYD, let alone the Chinese EV market generally. Here is a piece from the Vision Times from December 16, headline “BYD Faces Mounting Inventory and Surging Debt as Quality Complaints Flood the Internet.” (To be fair, Vision Times is uniformly highly critical of the Chinese government and its policies.). Excerpt:

In short, BYD’s net profit fell by nearly one-third in the first three quarters of 2025, while its debt burden surged several-fold. Although BYD still ranked first in China’s new-energy vehicle market with retail sales of 307,000 units in November 2025, year-on-year sales dropped sharply by 26.5 percent.

It seems that China is also in the process of withdrawing subsidies and tax credits for purchases of EVs:

With government trade-in subsidies being reduced or suspended and the halving of new-energy vehicle purchase tax incentives set for next year, consumer willingness to buy cars has weakened or been postponed.

Does that mean that China is also conducting a “war” on EVs?

The Vision Times piece concludes by quoting a blogger calling himself “Cold-Eyed Finance” on the subject of the Chinese EV manufacturing sector:

“China’s electric vehicle industry has no easy way out. Overcapacity is the core problem. Manufacturers are locked in vicious internal competition, slashing prices and costs. The result is mounting losses while production continues. After this phase, it will be a test of endurance—and many won’t last. A wave of bankruptcies in China’s EV sector is likely to accelerate.”

I would suggest to Mr. Saporito that it might take a bit more analysis to figure out what the “stupid” policies are here.